


It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)

by PepperF



Series: Diego whump [4]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Diego stops the apocalypse with his head, Gen, Whumptober 2020, in a way..., sorry Diego, uh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:29:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26812927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PepperF/pseuds/PepperF
Summary: He'd known it was a mistake even as he was doing it.Well, okay, that wasn’t strictly true. The moment he ran into the collapsing building, the only thought in his head had been a frantic,Mom!But a second later, he’d realized his error. One second too late."Diego, no—!"
Series: Diego whump [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1951318
Comments: 5
Kudos: 77
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)

**Author's Note:**

> In case it wasn't clear, my wonderful beta Bethany has helped me with all of these fics for Whumptober, and I am sending her all the virtual hugs rn because she's the best.

He'd known it was a mistake even as he was doing it. 

Well, okay, that wasn’t strictly true. The moment he ran into the collapsing building, the only thought in his head had been a frantic, _Mom!_ But a second later, he’d realized his error. One second too late.

"Diego, no—!"

\---

There's a blank space in his memory after that, up until he coughs, and the painful stab of a broken rib brings him to full alertness. "Oh, fuck...!" He blinks and reaches up to wipe his face, and hits an immediate problem when only one of his hands obeys him. He strains to see, but it's dark, so he moves his fingers, trying to keep the panic at bay, and is relieved to find his left hand flexes just fine, it's just trapped and sore. This reminds him about the rest of his body, so he takes stock. Killer headache, check. Broken rib or two, check. And there was something going on further down his legs that he wasn't gonna think about, because, fuck, just thinking about _thinking_ about it is already making his head swim, and he doesn't want to pass out again. Can't move, can't get up. He tries shifting slightly, but the immediate shudder that passes through who-knows-how-many tons of rubble makes him freeze again. He stays perfectly still, not even breathing, until he's sure nothing's going to collapse further, and then he drops his head with a groan.

Well. He's had better plans.

At least, he consoles himself, Klaus saw him running into the building. Klaus is unreliable at the best of times, but even he wouldn't just forget about his brother buried under the ruins of their former home, right?

No, of course he wouldn't. He'd get help, he'd get Luther and Allison, and Five if he's still around, and—shit, shit, _shit_ , Vanya, the apocalypse, _fuck_ , how could he have forgotten?! Shit, he's going to be under here until doomsday, the only consolation being that doomsday was today. Fuck. And he had to go and get his useless ass trapped, trying to rescue someone, something that might only be programmed to simulate a mother's love, while the rest of them tried to stop it. Shit, he hoped they were still trying to stop it, instead of rescuing him. What a fucking disaster.

_Yet again, Number Two, you have let me down. You are an embarrassment to the Umbrella Academy!_

"Shut the fuck up, dad," he muttered to himself.

It was a fitting end, probably. Here lies Diego, buried under the weight of his own stupidity. He'd always suspected the Umbrella Academy would be the death of him, just not quite so literally.

He balls up his right fist, fighting the urge to punch something, which would probably only make the rest of the building fall down on him. Jesus. He hoped there wasn't an afterlife, because he'd never hear the end of it from dad, or any of the others, if he dies like this.

He's got nothing better to do, so for a while he tries yelling for help. And then, just for some variety, he passes out again.

\---

There's nothing quite like the shifting of several tons of rubble hovering above you to wake you up in an instant. Adrenaline floods his body as things move painfully, and really, couldn't he have stayed unconscious if he's about to be crushed to death? Did he really need to be an active participant?

But then it stops again, and there's a breathless hush when all he can hear is the pulse pounding sickeningly through his brain. He tries calling out again, noticing that it's a struggle to pull air into his lungs. "Klaus? Luther? Allison? Anyone?"

A bout of painful coughing puts an end to that effort, though, and when he manages to stop and turn his head enough to spit out the blood in his mouth, he's too sick and dizzy to pull his thoughts back together. So it doesn't even dawn on him that the weight is getting lighter until a sudden shaft of bright white light stabs through.

"Fuck!" he yelps, putting a hand in front of his eyes. 

The rubble ignores his protest, and lifts away - floats away, in fact, and maybe he did die while he was unconscious after all, because that's some freaky shit—but no, it keeps moving, and his body keeps hurting, so he collapses back breathlessly and lets it happen. Something grinds horribly in his ankle as it comes free, and it's making him want to puke.

"Diego? Diego!"

He blinks awake—did he pass out again?—and it takes him a second to place the voice. No, voices. Five, and then Allison... oh, Luther too, hey Luther... Klaus...

There's a feeling of weightlessness, as more rubble floats away from him, and his eyelids turn the bright light to red, spiking pain through his head. It fades back to something more bearable, and then there's a cool hand on his brow. He leans into it, involuntarily. It feels so nice.

"Mom?" he croaks.

"It's okay, Diego, everything's going to be alright, we're getting you out of here. Just hold on, okay?"

It takes him longer than it should to work out who's speaking, but they don't see her that often, these days. "Vanya?" He ought to drag her out for coffee sometime, catch up and all that shit.

"Yeah, it's me, I'm here. I'm sorry, Diego, I'm so sor—"

"Vanya..." He reaches vaguely for the idea that something is out of place, but his brain is foggy. Something clicks, though. "Hey, weren't you busy doing the apocalypse or something?"

There's a pause, and then the hand strokes his forehead gently. "Yeah, but then my dumbass brother got himself trapped under a collapsed building, so I had to come help."

Dumbass brother... that had to be Klaus. Fucking idiot was always getting into trouble. "Oh, yeah... that makes sense. Is he okay? Did you get him out?"

"Yeah. Yeah, we did. He's going to be just fine."

"Good, that's good.... Hey, Vanya?"

"Yeah?"

"You wanna go for brunch this Saturday? I know a place just round the corner from me... they do these great pancakes."

There's another, longer pause, and her voice is shaky when she replies, but he can still hear the smile. "I'd like that, Diego. I'd like that a lot."


End file.
